Real estate market activity slows down slightly in Jan-Sept

Prague, Oct 28 (CTK) - Activity on the Czech real estate market fell slightly in the first three quarters of 2012, with transactions with flats, including flats under construction, seeing the biggest decline, according to the latest data of the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre (CUZK).

In contrast, the value of transactions with land plots increased.

Overall, the real estate market in the Czech Republic has fallen for the fifth straight year already.

"Unfortunately, a year-on-year comparison of the first three quarters did not confirm a growth in activity on the real estate market that was registered in the first quarter. There has been no turnaround on the market, and the last quarter will not change this dramatically, either," Petr Novotny of the real estate team at law office Vilimkova, Dudak & Partners said.

Novotny expects that the property market will stagnate in the entire year 2012.

Transactions with flats fell by 18 percent in January-September. The drop in the number of transactions with flats under construction was around the same.

"There is still recession in development. The drop in construction of new projects lasts and developers are not building, but gradually selling projects finished earlier. Besides, second-hand flats appear on the market," Novotny said.

However, activity on the market with land plots rose by 10 percent in the first three quarters of 2012. The market increased because builders put off construction and prefer selling plots they bought earlier, according to Novotny.

The CUZK has been compiling the quarterly statistics since 2008 when the activity on the Czech real estate market boomed. But immediately after that in the following nine months of 2009 the market registered a drop of 11 percent, which was the sharpest fall ever.

The market has been declining by several percent at most since then.

Development of Czech real estate market, based on data of Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre (CUZK):

Year (data for Q1-Q3) Number of transactions
2012 488,610
2011 491,399
2010 506,257
2009 517,140
2008 579,177

Source: CUZK